A Summer's Day
by SBs alive
Summary: A story of the August evening when Sirius first met his baby Godson. Oneshot, mild fluff.


**Disclaimer:** JKR owns it all. I'm pretty sure everyone knows that by now.

*

**A Summer's Day**

Sirius marched through the crowded corridors of St. Mungo's Hospital with a strange kind of haze clouding his thoughts. It took all his self-restraint not to break into run, but some shred of logic left within his largely numb brain stubbornly insisted that if he were to sprint along the hallway, he would most likely just dash past the right door. Most of the people he passed, man and woman alike, turned their heads to stare at him as he walked by, but right now Sirius was not in the mood to enjoy the attention. Some of his haste must have been visible on his face, since everyone gave a wide berth to him.

Sirius had returned from an Order mission gone awry less than an hour ago. It had been Moody's experience and sheer dumb luck that had seen them returned at all. He had come home weary from what had been a very nasty fight only to discover James' message, stating that Lily had given birth to a baby boy now some 24 hours ago. Sirius had taken time for a quick cleaning spell at his robes, which had been stained with blood and a number of unmentionable substances that had littered the dingy alleyway where they had been hiding. Then he had apparated straight to St. Mungo's.

Spotting the right door, Sirius showed uncharacteristic self-restraint and knocked instead of barging right in. Prolonged subjection to Moody had taught the importance of these little niceties to everyone who would rather not be beheaded with a tea-tray or whatever object the Auror happened to have at hand. Moody might be a bit on the edgy side, but no one could deny him being creative.

"It's me, James, Lily. Can I come in?" he called almost timidly into the room.

"Drag your furry butt here, Padfoot, you're late," James called back.

Now, how would he have been able to turn down so gracious an invitation? Sirius stepped into the room, where Lily lay on a bed, propped with pillows to a sitting position and with a tiny bundle in her arms. James was sitting in a chair by her shoulder, staring at the bundle in question. He raised his eyes from his son, probably to give Sirius a bit more hearty welcome, but the words got lost somewhere along the way, and his eyes widened in shock.

"Holy Merlin, Sirius! Are you all right?" James exclaimed and practically jumped from his chair. Lily, too, stared at him with slightly horrified expression.

"Oh, you heard about it, didn't you?" Sirius said, raising his hands in a calming gesture. "We were caught in a bit of skirmish and it took a while, but I came here as soon as I got your message." Sirius stepped closer to them, looking curiously at the little thing in Lily's arms. The baby boy was so _tiny_.

Look of concern faded quickly from James' face.

"Well, you obviously aren't _too _badly hurt." he said with amused tone in his voice. "Did you happen to take a look at yourself at any point?"

"Err… No, why?"

James handed him a mirror. "You're a mess, old boy, that's why."

Sirius was a little taken aback by his reflection. He _had _scourified his robes and washed his hands, but apparently he would not have gone amiss with a shower, either. At some point during the fight, it seemed, he had scraped his head. The wound was not too serious, but it _had_ bled profusely. Sirius' hair was tangled with drying blood, and the right side of his face was bloodstained enough to make him resemble a muggle horror movie –character. No wonder his appearance had turned more heads than even he was accustomed to. Now that he paid attention to his injury, it was actually painful, but he had failed to notice it before, first because of the excitement of the battle, then because of James' note.

Sirius grinned a little sheepishly. "I see. So maybe I ought to clean myself up a bit before you let me hold that kid of yours, right?" He walked to the sink on the other side of the room and began to wash away the clotted blood.

"Whatever makes you think I'm going to let you hold Harry in any case?" Lily quipped.

"Because you couldn't deny me the chance to hold my Godson, before I perish from the dreadful injury I received in a battle against evil," Sirius answered with as tragic voice.

James snorted. "Looks to me like you're going to live, Sirius, bearing in mind that you didn't even _notice_ your 'dreadful injury' until now."

"Some friend you are," Sirius grumbled, drying his face and hair and quickly sealing the now-clean wound on his scalp. "So, he's Harry, then?" he asked, walking back to them. He was somehow unable to take his eyes off the awfully little person that was his almost newborn Godson.

"Yes," Lily said very firmly. "And so help me Merlin, if I hear anymore even _joked _suggestions that a child of mine should be named _Ethelbert _or something…"

"Hey!" James exclaimed in mock offence. "I never _once_ suggested Ethelbert. Besides, it's honestly better, if our kid gets a normal name. Look how messed up _Sirius_ turned out to be…"

All kinds of witty remarks mysteriously evaded Sirius' mind as Lily carefully passed Harry to him. His knees were suddenly rather weak and he more sank to a chair than sat on it. He felt terribly clumsy holding the baby in his shaking hands.

"Hey, Harry," Sirius said quietly in a croaky sort of voice. The little boy's eyelids fluttered open and he looked at him with green eyes startlingly similar to Lily's.

Harry made an excited sounding squeal and reached a tiny hand to touch Sirius' face – and then he grabbed his Godfather's earring to his surprisingly strong fist.

"No, Harry, let go of that," Lily groaned, unable to fully conceal her wide grin, as openly laughing James jumped to unclench his son's fingers from the silver ring before Sirius would obtain his second injury today.

"Come on, Harry, let go of uncle Sirius' ear." James coaxed.

"No, no, no, no, look at him, he likes me," Sirius crooned with a goofy smile on his face. He was obviously thoroughly taken with his baby Godson, and probably also with the notion that the giggling child was barely a day old and he had already found a way to inflict physical injury upon people.

"Oh, _Merlin_!" Lily groaned exasperatedly. "You're even worse than James!"

"What was that?" Sirius asked after James had finally managed to make Harry let go of the silver jewel attached to his ear.

Lily smiled a bit crookedly. "Well, I seem to remember _one _motorcycle hoodlum that complained that _I_ would be totally unbearable to be around once my child was born. This anonymous young man seemed to find it so _strange _how _women_ go –what was it– yes, _'all misty-eyed'_ at the sight of a baby."

In a fine display of how much he had matured over the years, Sirius stuck his tongue out at Lily and then reluctantly handed Harry back to her.

"Have the others been here yet?" he asked.

"Yeah," James answered. "Pete was actually stopping by when the time came; he prevented me from falling into pieces, while we waited… Took forev-autch!" James rubbed his nose that had made contact with an apple Lily had thrown. The red-head's green eyes seemed to spark fire.

"James, if you _dare_ complain with half a word of how _long_ it took…" she left the sentence ominously hanging in the air and James, wisely, chose to heed the warning.

"Yeah, anyway, Remus came to visit around noon. He couldn't stay too long, though, he had to finish some report, and you know how Moody takes it when some paper isn't on his desk at the strike of the clock."

"Oh yes," Sirius grinned. "Do you remember that time when he came charging to my flat, berating about how tardiness is the Dark Wizard's best friend? Took me ages to convince him that I wasn't Imperiused and that I really was me and that I hadn't turned the damn report in, because I hadn't had the time to finish it. Then he took half a glance at it and burned it, because 'information lying around is the Dark Wizard's best friend'.

James grinned back at him. "And then you absolutely _had_ to open your smart mouth..."

Sirius winced. "He really reminded me of McGonagall for a while there... To think about it, aren't they old friends? Maybe she asked Moody to make us write essays even after we graduated in revenge for all the gray hairs we've given her. Wouldn't put it past her, either, she's gotten sneakier along the years."

"Do you think there might be any chance that Remus would try the same?" James asked, laughing

"Hardly. A smart man never repeats Sirius' mistakes," came the answer from by the door.

"Moony! Wormy!" James exclaimed and sprang up to greet the rest of his friends who had arrived without them noticing. "When did you get back?"

"Right now, Prongs," Peter answered with a wicked smile. "And _if_ you play your cards right, I _may_ not tell Moody how you two were _not_ constantly vigilant and failed to notice our arrival..."

"It's for their own good, Wormtail," Remus said smugly and was forced to duck the already dented apple James chucked at him.

Sirius was about to join with a banana already in his hand, when Lily stepped in to prevent the impending fruit-fight. "Behave, all of you! Or I'll have you thrown out!"

"Yes, O fair lady," Sirius complied with a graceful bow fitting for any king's court.

They all pulled chairs around Lily's bed and spent the next hours admiring little Harry and continuing their friendly banter. At one point, a healer came in to inform them that visiting hours were long-over, but after Sirius had for a while flirted outrageously with the middle-aged matron, she allowed them to stay "as long as they behaved themselves". It was an unspoken agreement that on this one evening they would not worry about the ongoing war that might well claim their lives the very next day. For those too short hours they would not be soldiers in a desperate fight, but young and happy people again, full of life and hope and promise.

Outside it grew dark as evening slowly turned into a moonless night.

*

**AN: **Review?


End file.
